Wednesday, December 29, 2010

And ask her why has the U.S Government been SILENT on the death threats against Malaysian Civil Rights activists for their posted "Ït Gets Better" Videos. Secretary Clinton herself, posted an amazing video to the "It Gets Better" project eariler this year.

The silence from our State Department on these death threats, some made by Malaysian Government Officials, is very disturbing.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

As you may have been aware, Seksualiti Merdeka, which champions the human rights of sexually marginalised communities in Malaysia, particularly the rights of LGBTs, has come under fire recently for our video project "It Gets Better in Malaysia". Right now we are being overwhelmed by the majority view that we are destroying Malaysian society. The videos have been mistakenly interpreted as a series of coming out videos set to insult the country's religion. Nothing can be further from the truth. In our statement released last week, we said:

"It Gets Better in Malaysia is a video project about giving hope to young LGBT Malaysians: even though things can be rough during the teenage years, it can get better. This message is targeted at the minority of young Malaysians who are growing up as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT).

"This project is in response to accounts of suicides and attempted suicides by LGBT teenagers and adults. Statistics of such suicides are anywhere between three to six times higher than by heterosexuals. This is due to the overwhelming feelings of loneliness, fear or hopelessness that result from the stigma and discrimination against them. Most people have their families to turn to. For LGBT youths, even their own families can be a source of rejection. They have no one to turn to. We decided it is up to us who have survived similar situations to reach out to young LGBTs. This is why the project was born. It’s not about making coming out videos. It is about giving hope to youths at risk." (Read the full statement here:http://www.seksualitimerdeka.org/)

If anything, the widespread fear and ignorance towards LGBTs here, coupled with the state-sanctioned misunderstanding towards the community, prove that such messages of hope are necessary and vital. So far we have released 5 of the videos and intend to release more. But the one video that seemed to have attracted attention is the one by Azwan Ismail. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJLSteQIcms). And among the comments it attracted, some on blogs, are threats of violence, stoning and death towards him.

We have some support in blogs and commentaries, mainly in English-medium news portals. The mainstream news mainly carry articles quoting officials asking for action to be taken upon us. The individuals who have been quoted include Minister in Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom and Perak Mufti Datuk Sri Harussani Zakaria, in Berita Harian and The Star respectively, asking JAKIM to take appropriate action.

None of these people mentioned anything about the violent threats and death threats, almost as if legitimizing them. Harian Metro also ironically claimed Seksualiti Merdeka is threatening Muslims. (you can find the links to the articles at http://www.seksualitimerdeka.org/)

Only The Sun Daily and The Star mentioned the death threats against Azwan, but neither carried statements by Malaysian officials condemning the threats. (The Star carried the inteview by Associated Press.)

But for now we would like to request for the support from Malaysian NGOs, personalities and our supporters to speak up for us. Below are some ways you may help:

1. To oppose all threats of violence, stoning and death. One comment we saw asked for "sula" to be meted out. Another blog, after listing three ways of killing homosexuals, suggested that if the authorities don't take action, Muslims should not be blamed if they took actions into their own hands. Please oppose the legitimising of hate speech and violence.

2. To oppose insults, disparaging remarks and jokes made at the expense of LGBTs in Malaysia. To oppose discrimination of LGBTs who have committed no crime just being who they are.

3. To oppose criminalising and punishing LGBTs for being who they are. To oppose criminalising and punishing members of Seksualiti Merdeka for empowering marginalised communities and doing social work.

4. To support that we have done NOTHING to insult Islam. In fact, we are simply making it possible so that young people don't take their own lives. (But seeing all these hate going on, it might just prompt them instead.) In fact, we too believe that sexuality is a responsibility, no matter whether you are straight or LGBT. We want to be given a chance to show people how to be responsible with their own sexuality. This include being self-aware, self-accepting, as well as being aware and accepting of others. And respecting each other's rights.

5. To support allowing LGBTs in Malaysia to have avenues to express ourselves in order to create more understanding. This is included in the 4 recommendations at the end of our statement, which we hope you will support.

6. To support the human rights of all LGBTs in Malaysia regardless of their race, religion, age, gender identity or sexual orientation.

7. To support Seksualiti Merdeka's initiatives and the "It Gets Better in Malaysia" project.

We also hope you may offer your support, if possible, not only in English but also Bahasa Melayu, to be directed at the Malay-language media. We encourage you to write to the editors of the above publications, post blogs or facebook status or twitters to vocally support us.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Pang Khee Teik, one of Malaysia's most recognisable sexuality rights activists, shares his journey from being a schoolboy in Singapore who was often bullied by his classmates to undergoing reparative therapy at a church for 12 years to self-acceptance as a gay man.

He is one of Malaysia's most recognisable sexuality rights activists. His quote "Stop censoring who I am" was even Time Online's quote of the day on 25 Feb 2009. At the time he wrote a lengthy letter to the press to protest Malaysian cable TV operator Astro's decision to censor the words “gay” and “lesbian” from Sean Penn's and Dustin Lance Black's Oscar acceptance speeches – for their movie Milk about American gay rights activist Harvey Milk – in which they called for equal rights for gay men and lesbians.

In this video, the fifth of the It Gets Better in Malaysia series, Pang shares his journey to self-acceptance as a gay man from as a schoolboy in Singapore who was often bullied by his classmates to undergoing reparative therapy at a church for 12 years where he was told that being gay is wrong and it is possible to change one's orientation from gay straight.

"For 12 years, I stopped myself from loving. Every time I fell in love or had a crush on someone, a guy, I stopped myself. I did not allow my heart to feel what it needed to feel... There are many ways to kill yourself. One of the ways is to stop yourself from loving, to stop yourself from living. And for 12 years I did that. And I died slowly everyday. Until one day I realised and I asked myself what is wrong with love."

Saturday, December 18, 2010

There is a lot that can, and will be said about all this I am sure. But frankly that can wait. What is important to say right now, is simply this;

Today the Congress of the United States finally agrees with the proposition that someone who is willing to risk his or her life to defend this nation should not be deemed LESS equal than the citizens they are defending.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Paul Butler, a Facebook engineering intern, transformed social data into a stunningly beautiful visual that outlines the geographical borders of Facebook friendships.

It worked like this--by using a random sample of ten million pairs of Facebook friends, Butler plotted both their locations and their connection to one another on a graph. By repeating that step with each member of his sample, Butler found that the resulting image formed the outline of a world map, with the most marked areas forming where major cities are located.

The result is this stunning map, which displays exactly what Butler had intended it to. "I was interested in seeing how geography and political borders affected where people lived relative to their friends. I wanted a visualization that would show which cities had a lot of friendships between them," he wrote on Facebook's engineering blog. (Which is also worth checking out for a more detailed explanation of his process plotting the map).

True, it's not exactly shocking that a visualization of Facebook friendship data shows that most connections are within short distances of one another and that major cities have more connections than remote regions. But so what? This map is so neat that it's worth the time this experiment likely took. (via All Facebook)

The since 2001, the Republican Party has long claimed that ONLY the GOP truly understood the implications of the terror attacks of September 11, 2001; and how "everything changed" on that day. In addition they often accuse the Democrats and President Obama of having a "Pre-9/11 mentality". (By which they mean soft on terrorism.)

In the years that have followed, the Republican Party turned the memory of 9/11 into their party's political brand. Wrapping all of their candidates and polices in the red-white-and blue cloak of "September the eleventh"...

Last night on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show", host Jon Stewart talked about the sheer hypocrisy of Republicans who have used the attacks of September 11th, 2001 as a political marketing campaign to claim they love America more than anyone else; while at the same time voting AGAINST help for first responders injured in the aftermath of those same terror attacks...

"So, let me get this straight - Larry King is getting his 8th divorce, Elizabeth Taylor is possibly getting married for a 9th time, Britney Spears had a 55 hour marriage. Jesse James and Tiger Woods are screwing EVERYTHING, yet the idea of same-sex marriage is going to destroy the institution of marriage?? ...Really??"

Monday, December 06, 2010

The Republican Party has discovered the sad and very inconvenient truth about Barack Obama, President Obama, is a good man, an intelligent man, who is very weak. President Obama is not a Leader, he is a negotiator, and not a very good one. On issue after issue, from Health Care Reform, to Wall Street Reform, Congressional Republicans, found that President Obama, seemed to prefer a really bad agreement, to no agreement.

As a result, the GOP learned very quickly , that it was all too easy to back the President into a corner, where his natural urge to "find common ground", meant he would abandon his stated principles and simply give in and give up. All the while making very eloquent statements about the value of bi-partisanship.

Today President Barack Obama apparently decided he doesn't want a second term. The great irony here is that he will likely suffer the same electoral fate as the first President Bush. George HW Bush agreed to the 1990 budget deal with Congressional Democrats. Then in 1992 the Democrats turned around and attacked Bush for breaking his "read my lips" pledge on no new taxes.

Make no mistake, in 2012 the GOP will firmly lay the deeper hole, that this "compromise" will dig in terms of the deficit and the National Debt, firmly at the feet of the President and the Democrats. You can almost see the ads, labeling the trillions of dollars of added debt as the "Obama Record".

This deal is the GOP's biggest Christmas wish come true. The Democrats have just lost their only real campaign issue. The wildly unpopular "Bush Tax Cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires" are now officially the "Obama Tax Cuts for Millionaires and Billionaires".

The one year extension of Unemployment Insurance benefits is a very good thing, but to think it could not have been accomplished with out caving in on tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy is the biggest political cop-out since Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act.

With solid majorities in both houses of Congress the Obama Administration refused to even consider using even the threat of budget reconciliation to get his agenda through congress.

From National Public Radio:Budget reconciliation, a provision of the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, is designed to force committees to make changes in mandatory – or entitlement – spending and revenues. The rules for budget reconciliation in the Senate restrict the procedure to provisions dealing with the budget. They also set strict protocols for consideration of the bills in both chambers. Under the procedures for reconciliation bills, debate in both houses is limited to 20 hours, and no Senate filibusters are allowed.

Congress has used reconciliation occasionally for non-budget legislation, including rewriting health care and welfare policy, as the Republican majority did in passing major welfare reform in 1996. Resorting to budget reconciliation is the legislative equivalent of breaking out the heavy artillery in a pitched battle. Since the early 1980s, it has been used 19 times, primarily to steer controversial fiscal and budgetary policies through the Senate, including former President Bill Clinton’s fiscal 1994 deficit reduction and tax package and President George W. Bush’s major tax cuts.

So instead we have had two years of eloquent words, and abandoned priorities. I never thought I would look at the Obama Administration, and find myself wishing it was more like the fictional Bartlett Administration of "The West Wing".

It will be very hard for Democrats to campaign as the antidote to GOP fiscal insanity, when their track record is just as crazy.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

The State of Illinois this week approved Civil Unions for Gay and Lesbian Couples. Given the hate fueled hysteria on this issue across the border to the North in Wisconsin, it is so refreshing to see and hear simple common sense on this issue. Cue IL State Senator Rick Hendon...

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

The past week has been an amazing one in American Politics. As the outgoing lame duck Congress comes back into session to try to tie up a number of loose ends, the Republican Party has decided to double down on their strategy of preventing anything from getting done, no matter the cost.

In one of the most remarkable displays of politics at its worst, the outgoing GOP minority has decided that since they have ignored sanity, reason, and the good of American People for four years, why should they change now.

With over two million Americans facing the expiration of their unemployment compensation benefits at midnight tonight, with a vital arms reduction treaty with Russia awaiting ratification, and with pending action on the debt ceiling to insure ability of the Government itself to continue functioning; what do you suppose the GOP says is it's ONLY priority...

Tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy. The top 2% of millionaires and billionaires. The GOP is so concerned about giving tax breaks to the richest of the rich that today they announced that they will prevent ANY and ALL other legislation from being voted on until the tax cuts for the uber-rich are passed. Rachel Maddow breaks it down for us.

So just to be clear, it is the official position of the Republican Party that Government stepping in to prevent over two million unemployed Americans from losing their only means of support is completely unacceptable, because it would add 60 Billion Dollars to the federal deficit in the short term. But giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America that would addmore than 700 Billion Dollars to the deficit... THAT is so important to Republicans that they will allow NOTHING else to get done until their tax cuts for the super rich are passed.

It is clear that in the mind of the GOP, anyone who dares point out that tax cuts for the mega rich do not create jobs or stimulate the broader economy, (a FACT that the past 8 years have clearly shown) must be a socialist who clearly hates America. The GOP loves to talk about Jobs, but has no desire to do ANYTHING that might actually create more of them. Again, Rachel Maddow takes us down the GOP's delusional garden path.

It is clear the if you are unemployed, or even if you are simply not among the wealthiest two percent of Americans, the Republican Party thinks you are clearly a lazy parasite and hates you for standing between them and their beloved tax breaks for the ultra-rich.

Happy Holidays America! For those of you who now will be destitute because the GOP wrecked the economy and you lost your job , and now have no unemployment benefits; The Republican opposition to you having affordable Health Care now makes sense. They want you to hurry up and die, to "decrease the surplus population..."

Friday, November 19, 2010

I hate writing about these idiots. I really do. But this a new low even for these anti-American, anti-Christian hate mongers.

The self-proclaimed "American Family Association" has thrown a hissy fit over a new policy from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The new rule states that hospitals that bill back to Medicare and Medicaid cannot deny visitation rights based on sexual orientation.

In other words, hospitals can't deny the same sex partner of a patient the right to visit them in the hospital. Something that until these new rules, was all too common in the United States. Even in cases where same-sex couples had medical powers of attorney.

Surely something as basic as allowing someone in the hospital to be visited by their loved ones couldn't possibly be controversial . After all, only a heartless, soulless bastard would say to someone; "We don't care who you love, you deserve to die alone..." This is a no brainer right?

Wrong. - Cue the hate filled hysteria on the America's wing nut bigoted Right. The American Family Association calls the rule "special visitation rights" under the headline "Fed To Hospitals: Go Gay Or Go Broke."

"Certainly there are Catholic hospitals and Baptist hospitals that recognize homosexual behavior as sinful behavior and they do not want to take part in affirming homosexual sin under the strong arm of the government."

This from Liberty Counsel's limp-wristed little spokesbigot, Matt Barber. Who objects to the new federal rules which stipulate that any hospital that receives Medicare or Medicaid funding must allow LGBT patients to be visited by their partners. The rule goes into effect in 60 days.

These anti-Constitutional hate mongers go on to say the new rule grants Gays and Lesbians "Special Visitation Rights". So according to the American Taliban, having the SAME rights to visit a loved one in the hospital just like anyone else, is a "special right" if you happen to be Gay or Lesbian.

For these obsessed bigots, extending ANY rights to LGBT Americans constitutes "special rights". To the point where these unbelievably evil people would oppose letting a patient in a hospital see his or her loved ones.

On their national radio show, these Nazi's decried how they could no longer force Gays and Lesbians to die alone..

These people are insane.. They are the domestic equivalent of the Taliban, seriously. They hate America, they hate our freedoms, they hate our diversity. They seek to take a narrow ultra fundamentalist religious perspective and make it the law of the land. They may not use the same tools and tactics, but their goals are no different than the radical clerics in the Middle East who seek to impose religious law on their own people.

The American Family Association is anything BUT an association for American families. They are a hate group, no different than the Klu Klux Klan.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

You know, I think I found the best way to deal with US election crazyness, vote early then leave the country for two weeks! Here for a short holiday with Eric to visit his family and actaully spend some quality time together in the same time zone for a change.

Have no fear dear readers, I have not abandoned you , and will have pleanty to say about the U.S. Midterm elections and how they were viewed from Asia, when I return to the States in two weeks.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Bishop Mark Hanson, the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, lends his voice to the "It Gets Better" project in a new video.

Says Hanson: "Sometimes the words of my Christian brothers and sisters have hurt you. I also know that our silence causes you pain...You are a beloved child of God. Your life carries the beauty and dignity of God's creation...There is a place for you in this world, and in this Church."

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Republican candidate for Wisconsin Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch compared same-sex marriage to marrying a clock during a radio interview.

"This is a slippery slope," Kleefisch said. "In addition to that at what point are we going to be okay marrying inanimate objects? Can I marry this table or this, you know, clock? Can we marry dogs?" "This is ridiculous," continued Kleefisch. "And biblically, again, I'm going to go right back to my fundamental Christian beliefs marriage is between one man and one woman."

Wow... the only things she's missing are Tina Fey glasses, and a husband who doesn't speak but just poses with a dead moose and a snowmobile. But I say let's take little Becky Kleefisch at her word and she really means it when she says; I'm going to go right back to my fundamental Christian beliefs".

So if she wasn't lying and just trying to use homophobia to rally her tea-bagging, civil rights fearing, home skooled minions. And we accept that she truly holds real honest to God, fundamentalist Biblical beliefs; Then we can expect Kleefish to announce any day now, that she is quitting the race and submitting herself to death by public stoning. The fundamentalist biblical punishment for a woman daring to speak in public and seek public office with out her owner's (Father's, husband's or oldest male sibling's) permission.

We can expect in her next speech on agriculture, one of Wisconsin's major industries; Kleefish will confirm her deeply held belief that any WI Farmer who plants different crops side by side is to be arrested and put to death for committing an abomination unto the Lord Thy God.

And since Kleefisch holds her fundamentalist beliefs so deeply and honestly, we can safely assume that any member of her campaign staff wearing clothing made from two different types of material will also be turned over to the authorities for capital punishment. Not to mention the fact that The Kleefish campaign certainly has NEVER held any events or done any campaigning on Sundays, as that would be in violation of the Sabbath itself.

In fact, lets take a good look at exactly how the GOP Candidate for Lt. Governor of Wisconsin's fundamentalist beliefs actually DO define the institution of marriage...

But in all seriousness... Rebecca Kleefisch is a either a blasphemous bigot or an idiot. What I find most interesting about tea-bagging troglodytes like Kleefisch, is their constant selective bible thumping. They say the "Bible" is the inerrant word of God and want to use it to deny civil rights and basic freedoms to other Americans, but they NEVER practice what they preach.

Their mis-use of the Bible is to pick bits of it selectively and use ONLY random lines that can be taken completely out of context to support whatever it is they are saying at the time. But that isn't even the real issue here. Neither is Kleefish's tired re-used comparison of Same Sex marriage to someone wanting to marry a piece of furniture or their pet..

It was the same argument racists screamed in opposition to inter-racial marriage. It was bigoted nonsense then, and it still bigoted nonsense now.

But what is most galling about Kleefisch's homophobic bile, is not her assertion that somehow her beliefs are "Christian", nor is it her desire to make those beliefs the basis of public policy in the State of Wisconsin. What is most galling about what Kleefisch does, is that when she says "Christian Beliefs" she really means only HER beliefs.

I am a Christian, and I worship regularly at one of the oldest protestant churches in the Western United States. St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco is in fact, the oldest Lutheran Church west of the Mississippi River, founded in 1849. I am the son of Lutheran Pastor and yes, have even taught Sunday School and Confirmation classes.

So when Sister Rebecca over there starts talking about what Christians believe, she certainly doesn't speak for me, or millions of Christians just like me, who DO believe that all of us Gay and Straight are loved equally by God, and deserve the SAME rights. Including the right to get married.

When you claim that religion has the right to dictate to the State how to function, you then by that very fact, must allow the State to dictate to the Church in the same way. THAT is what Thomas Jefferson knew and was warning against, when he spoke of the separation of Church and State. If you truly don't believe in that separation then you don't really believe in religious freedom either. Without a the clear constitutional separation of Church and State, America would be essentially no different than Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or the Taliban in Afghanistan .

Tea-bagging wing nuts like Rebecca Kleefisch, Christine O'Donnell, and Sister Insanity herself, Sarah Palin will spew nonsensical rantings about the "threat" of Sharia (Islamic religious) Law, being imposed upon the United States. Then in the same breath, selectively advocate for codification of some of the Sundry Laws from the Old Testament.book of Leviticus.

The hypocrisy and ignorance on display in the Wisconsin Republican Party of 2010, would make the men who gathered in that school house in Ripon Wisconsin and established that party, break down and weep.

Rebecca Kleefisch says that all Americans having equal rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, would lead to people marrying ....a piece of furniture. Hardly surprising, since Kleefisch just proved she clearly has the intelligence of one.

GLAAD has set up a website that lists a number of steps participants can take to help stop the bullying of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people.

Organizers say those who participate in "Spirit Day" can change their Facebook profile picture and/or Twitter profile to reflect that they're wearing purple for the occasion.

According to GLAAD's website, the event was created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month, following several high profile suicides following alleged anti-gay bullying in September. Rutgers University Freshman Tyler Clementi jumped off the George Washington Bridge after his roommate allegedly broadcast video of Clementi having sex with another man online. Seth Walsh, a California 13 year old, committed suicide after reportedly being bullied because he was gay.

Facebook pages have also been set up by several participants, one with the message that "This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple."

Monday, October 18, 2010

Thursday, October 14, 2010

In the musical "Guys & Dolls", long suffering night club star, Adelaide has been "engaged" to gambler Nathan Detroit for fourteen years. In the song "Adelaide's Lament" she sings of her desire to FINALLY get married and how the stress of not knowing when or if she ever will, is giving her a cold.

At the risk of being completely clichéd, the now decades long saga of marriage equality has, had same sex couples in the United States feeling a lot like Adelaide. back in the 1990's Bill Clinton was going to be the champion for LGBT Equality, but instead he signed both the Defense of Marriage Act,and the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy into law.

Then came the 2008 election and Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Candidate Obama said he didn't believe in "Gay Marriage" but said he fully supported Civil Unions and promised to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

Yet just this week, President Obama had "his Justice Department" file an appeal in federal court defending the Defense of Marriage Act and putting forward the argument that allowing same sex couples equal rights somehow would cause harm to the United States. Thanks a lot Mr. "Fierce Advocate"...

And in the middle of all this debate on DOMA and Proposition 8 here in California, which banned same sex marriage. We have not even touched the issue of how the lack of Marriage Equality impacts bi-national same sex couples; Where one person is an American and the other is not, and many couples are forced apart by that.

Or, as is becoming more and more common, the American half the couple is forced to choose between love or country, and move to one of the twenty nations that give equal treatment under the law to same sex couples.

And that is where our story begins. in 2008 and 2009, my partner Eric and I did what a lot of same sex couples did. We waited to see if President Barack Obama would keep the promises he made as candidate Barack Obama.

When it became clear that the inspiring words he spoke to LGBT voters were just that, words, we began the process to apply for a Civil Partnership Visa, for me to move to the U.K.

The United Kingdom has Civil Unions for same sex couples that have the same rights as Heterosexual marriages. So Eric would be able to sponsor me as a spouse to live and work in the U.K. We started this process back in January and it is a long, tedious and very expensive one. Back in July we finally submitted all the required documentation, financial records, letters from friends and family, airline ticket receipts, telephone bills and skype chat transcripts all proving our relationship was real.

Then we waited to hear back from the U.K. Home Office if the visa was approved, and have been waiting ever since.

This afternoon I was sitting at my desk at work, it was one of those days that you could swear someone had tied invisible weights to the hands the the clock because the day was just going by so slowly. I had just finished a very long and somewhat dry conference call , when I heard the familiar buzzing sound of my blackberry and felt the vibration on my hip.

As I started working on a power point presentation, I took out my Blackberry and hit the key to open the email that had just come in. What I saw on the screen was this:

"Your application has been approved and the visa has been issued. Please check your visa immediately on receipt to ensure that we have completed your visa correctly. Please send details of any errors or omissions to visas.losangeles@fco.gov.uk ASAP."

Many well intentioned people, both inside and outside the LGBT Community have often asked what is the "big deal" about Federal recognition of Same Sex couples, after all with powers of attorney, living wills and the like, Gay couples can have the same basic rights and protections as opposite sex couples.

Did it really matter if the Government gave its blessing or even its permission? Libertarian friends of mine have long argued that Government has no business being involved with marriage at all, and it should be simple matter of contract law. So does having a Government say "Ok, you can get married" really make any difference? I often wondered that myself. Many couples have "commitment ceremonies" with family and friends in spite of the lack of civil recognition. Does some sort of official civic approval really matter?

Then today I sat at my desk and saw that short, to the point email message, in which the Government of the United Kingdom was essentially saying to me; "We approve of you and Eric wanting to spend the rest of your lives together, Cheers!". The answer to that question was as clear as the text on my blackberry screen.

Yes, it does make a difference.

It does feel different when Government, the civic will and voice of a society says that you matter, you count just as much as everybody else does. Your relationship, your love, your life that you want to build together, is just as valid as everybody else's.

How does that feel? It feels incredible.

I have to admit I didn't get much work done after that. Instead I found myself staring at my blackberry with a huge grin on my face, thinking one thought for most the rest of the day.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

From the Dallas Voice - A 19-year-old gay man from Oklahoma has taken his own life, and his parents say a hate-filled recent City Council meeting he attended may have driven him over the edge.

Zach Harrington was a talented musician who’d endured years of struggles due to his sexual orientation in high school in conservative Norman, Okla.

On Sept. 28, Harrington attended a three-hour public hearing on a proposal to declare October gay history month in the city. Although the council ultimately approved the proposal, Harrington’s parents described the meeting as potentially “toxic” for their son, a private person who internalized his feelings.

From the Norman Transcript - One man said he moved to Norman because he thought it was the kind of place that would never accept the GLBT community with open arms. A woman, who described herself as “bi-racial,” said she was tired of the GLBT plight being compared to Civil Rights. Some of those who opposed the proclamation claimed that members of the GLBT community would use it to infiltrate the public school system, essentially allowing the “gay lifestyle” to become a part of the curriculum.

For those in attendance, it was hard to ignore the intolerant grumblings, the exasperated sighs and cold, hard stares that followed comments from supporters of the GLBT proclamation.

Zach's family, who described him as a private young man who internalized his feelings and emotions, said it was this “toxic” environment at the Sept. 28 council meeting that may have pushed their gay son and brother over the edge. Nikki Harrington, Zach’s older sister, said her brother likely took all of the negative things said about members of the GLBT community straight to heart.

The message the people in that room sent to 19 year old Zach Harrington was loud and clear; You don't belong here, you are something "less than" the rest of us, God is sending you to Hell, and what's more, we know that you are really out to destroy us all, and our town.

I think the next act by the Norman City Council should be to approve sister city project with Terhan, Iran. As both cites are clearly full of fundamentalist religious extremists who are terrifed by diversity, and feel threatened by democracy.